Elaborate festoon
by U2fan003
Summary: Set just after Aarch and Adium have their unsuccessful dinner date towards the end of Season 1 before the Snow Kids win their first cup. Some angst and fluff and Aarch being an idiot. Aarch x Adium / OC (Adium's sister)


She was so angry she did not know where she was going.

She hurried outside to get a cab hoping he would not follow her. Part of her wished he did. But he knew better than to follow her. Even he knew that.

A cab finally came and she got in. She did not know what to feel; sad, hurt, angry, embarrassed at leaving half way through dinner when he had rented he whole restaurant just for the two of them.

As the holocab channeled through the busy night in the Akillian downtown area, she instructed the driver to take her to a different destination than the one she advised him to initially. She tipped him well and got out.

Luckily, Cam was at home. As soon as she opened the door and saw the state her sister was in, she took out two large glasses and poured a drink.

"Alright, drink first, and whatever it is, just tell me about it." She said welcomingly.

"Oh God I feel like such a fool sometimes…"

"What happened Addy?"

Cam poured another glass, for both of them.

"Well, don't judge me or anything, here it goes… Aarch asked me out to dinner. Which was tonight."

Cam looked surprised, and confused at the same time.

"Okayy… so what happened? Why are you here?"

"I'm so angry at him… sometimes he can be so stupid or I don't know what it is. Maybe it's just men in general." She said in disgust.

"Come on.. what happened?"

Adium took another sip.

"I stormed off halfway through dinner."

"Why, what did he say?"

"He asked me if _now_ is too late for us! Can you believe that! What, is fifteen years too late?!" She blurted out disgustedly and hurt at the same time.

"Oh God…. men _are_ idiots."

"I mean, how can he ask such a thing? How can someone expect that it would be ok to disappear for fifteen years and come back and be surprised that, oh right, it is too late."

Cam was supportive of her sister and this was a rare occasion where Adium was this emotional. Only Aarch could stir up such a thing.

"But, how? Did he like ask for you to get together again or something like that?"

"No, I mentioned that he never showed me how he felt about me, even when we were together before he left. And then he's asking if it's too late for us."

"Oh damn…"

"He's such an idiot sometimes."

"How did you go out with him in the first place? Where you interested in him again?" Cam bluntly asked.

"Well, things were going well between us professionally, and we had caught up a couple of times. He asked me to dinner and I said, 'Hey, this is the first time he's asked me after fifteen years, I don't think I should miss this." Adium gestured animatedly.

Cam sighed.

"And you know, I didn't want to make a fuss about it. I didn't expect that he'll break out into a fifteen-year awaited apology and show any type of feeling. But I didn't expect this… this idiotic male naivety."

Cam poured in another glass.

They sat drinking and cussing about men.

A slight silence fell in the room and she didn't know whether it was the realisation of it all or the strange foreign alcohol Cam was serving her, but she felt bad.

"Ugh, I feel so embarrassed…"

"Why, because you're letting it out in front of a person?" Cam chuckled.

"No… he rented the whole restaurant just for the two of us…"

"And you walked away halfway through dinner!" Cam said enthusiastically.

"It's worse when you say it out loud."

"No no, I applaud you. Don't feel bad about it. He should feel bad for being so downright idiotic."

A silence fell again, and they both laughed at the thought of her leaving when he had gone to the trouble of booking the whole restaurant.

"There was only one waiter…"

"He didn't have much to do though did he!" Cam laughed out.

They both started laughing at the irony of it all. Adium needed a laugh that night.

"Still, it is pretty cool to have a guy book a whole restaurant for your first date." Cam wondered.

"Ugh, he's just got the money and the audacity to do so." Adium said disgustedly as she sipped in another shot.

"Ohh come on I know you like it," Cam said teasingly as Adium laughed shyly in her drink.

"So what will you do now?"

"What is there to do? I'll just wait for him to apologise, and I want a good apology. I won't accept nothing flat, not even from him."

"Good on you." Cam said as they clinked their glasses in agreement.

"Though you got to admit, he's still as attractive as ever."

"Ugh… that just makes it worse."

"Or better." Cam laughed cheekily.

"Shut up."

"But, like, do you feel anything for him? I mean, you were still talking to him when he returned."

"Yea it's my job to talk to him."

"Oh come on you know what I mean."

Adium thought and felt shy, she did now know exactly how to respond.

"Ugh… You know, a part of me wants him to care. But I don't know how I feel. If I did feel anything for him, I don't know if it would simply be to complete something we had started."

"How would you 'complete' it?!" Cam said smirkily.

"Shut up."

"Yea, I understand. You don't need to put any pressure on yourself. You can't forget what he did to you, and to his brother. But, if you do feel anything for him, don't feel guilty or shameful about it."

Adium looked sternly at her. She never received any advice like that before, and felt a particular safety within her that night.

She felt she could face Aarch, and she was not mad at herself for that little part within her that still felt a sweet tinge whenever she saw him or talked about him.

As things quieted down and they shared some more drinks and rants, Adium felt it was time to go home.

Cam invited her to stay over considering they both had drunk a bit and her partner was out of the planet.

Adium thought it better to sleep in her own bed, her mind would be clearer there when she woke up.

She arrived home and still waited for a text message or at least anything from him. She expected an apology.

She went to sleep; the alcohol certainly helped.

She woke up the following morning and was fidgeting around. She did not have a headache as big as she expected, which was a welcomed coincidence.

Cam called to see if she was ok, they spoke nothing of what happened between Adium and Aarch the night before.

She tried not to think about it, although she was still mad at him.

She was not supposed to go in to work today, Saturdays were usually her off day, when the assistants were able to handle things and no meetings were scheduled.

She dreaded how she felt. She spent the morning lying around on the sofa browsing the channels.

She got fed up, so she dressed up and went to work. At least she would be useful there.

As she got in, her assistant was startled to see her. She asked if there was any urgent business matter that she did not know about.

Adium explained herself bluntly, "Oh no, don't worry. It's just with the Cup final coming up so soon I thought I could come in on Saturday afternoons to do the boring paperwork so it'll free up time from the weekdays so we can focus more on press and promotion."

Her assistant nodded in agreement and understanding, but she was too naive to figure out if everything was alright with Adium. She needed a new assistant - one that she could talk to.

She got in her office and got to work. At least she could bury herself in that.

As the afternoon grew longer, her assistant was approached by a request for an urgent meeting.

"Mr Norton, good afternoon. How can I help you?" She said flustered as she attempted to compose herself. She had not gotten used to talk to prominent figures in the football scene, even if she did have to work with them and had been working at the League for almost half a year now.

"Hi, good afternoon. Could I speak with Ms Langdon please? It's rather urgent." He asked kindly but also rather tensely.

"I'm afraid today we do not take any meetings, Sir. And if you require to speak to Ms Langdon about anything regarding the remaining matches of the Cup I do remind you that that is prohibited."

"I understand, and no, this has nothing to do with the Cup matches. It's quite confidential. Would you be able to ask her, at least, if I can talk to her for a moment?" He pleaded.

The neat-freak assistant studied his approach cautiously and considered the possibility of helping him, afraid that it will get her in trouble for asking her boss for an urgent meeting on her day off.

"I will ask." She said sternly.

"Thank you so much, you're very considerate."

She went in Adium's office and was nervous to speak.

"What is it, Nael?" Adium asked as she looked at the tense girl.

"I know you're not scheduled to have any meetings today, and I tried to turn him away, but Mr Norton is here and he's requesting to see you, now."

"Aarch?" She did not know why she asked the question herself.

"Yes. He's very persistent. He said it's confidential." The girl spoke with timidness, not knowing how to deal either with her boss or with the powerful team manager waiting in her office.

"Tell him to come in." Adium said without any feeling.

The girl was astounded. She thought she was getting in trouble, and hoped Adium would not get mad at her if the meeting went wrong.

"Ms Langdon will see you now, Mr Norton."

"Thank you very much. You're very kind." He was not fond of small talk but was actually grateful for her.

He felt tense as he walked in.

He entered her office and she did not even look up from her holo-screen.

"Adium," he called, hoping she'd lift up her head to face him.

"Yes." She looked at him with a sense of aloofness.

"I'm sorry for yesterday, and for everything."

She stared at him and hoped that was not all he came over to say.

He was lost, he waited for a reply but did not get any. He tried to find what to say.

"I'm sorry I was an idiot fifteen years ago.. and I'm sorry that I still am."

He was sort of reassuring.

She spoke. "Aarch, you can't just return to Akillian and just because we were doing well professionally think that you can just get back together with me."

"I know, I know… and I'm sorry I was stupid enough that you had to hear that yesterday."

She was not assured.

"Don't expect that you can get me back with a nice restaurant and acting that everything's alright."

"I know, I know…" he repeated.

"You never cared, Aarch. You only cared about football."

"I did care."

"Whatever. You never showed it."

"Adium, I still care. I know you're thinking I'm just saying this, but leaving was the worst thing that I ever did."

"As you said Aarch, it's ancient history now. It doesn't matter if you still care, you hurt me, and your brother. And you can't pretend - like you did yesterday - that what was there between us can still be there now."

He was ashamed and disappointed at himself. His mind was blocked. He could not say anything.

A difficult silence fell upon the room.

He took in a deep breath.

"I just wanted to apologise, for yesterday, for everything. I just wanted to do it in person."

"Apology accepted." She said sternly.

"I messed up. You deserve better Adium."

She did not say anything.

"I hope we can still work together." He was afraid of this last sentence.

"Aarch, you know I don't hold personal grudges professionally. You think I wanted to give you a chance at forming a team when you just turned up here fifteen years after abandoning me and your brother at a time when we needed you most?"

He was frozen.

She knew she hit a hard place.

"Don't worry about that. We're both professionals here."

"Thanks. I appreciate it."

A silence was present again.

"You know, just for the record. Not showing how you felt about us when we were together, in the long run hurt more than when you left to play for The Shadows." She said bluntly.

He was speechless, and even more disappointed.

"You deserve better." He said again.

She did not say anything.

"I'm sorry I left halfway through dinner yesterday." She said with a timid smile to break the tension.

"Ugh, I deserved it believe me. Don't feel bad about it. I know now that I can't show how I feel by making some elaborate festoon." A slight smile crossed his lips.

She laughed a little, "Yea, you got to admit that was pretty much." She smiled.

His smile stiffened and he dared to ask. "Adium, are we okay?"

She did not know how to respond.

"I mean, there will always be history between us - both good and bad - and I know we can't start over, I'd be an even bigger fool if I had to ask that… But, I don't want us to be strangers. I don't mean just in work, but also generally, if that's even possible."

Adium thought silently for a minute.

"Aarch, we will always have what we have between us, that can never go away. But, generally, I think yes, we can be okay. Maybe not right now. We need a bit of distance. But through time I don't know, maybe."

"Right… I understand." He nodded.

"I'll go, Adium. I know I can't ever say how sorry I do feel about everything. But I hope you understand."

She nodded.

"Thanks for everything. I'm sorry."

He left and she did not say goodbye. It was bittersweet - mostly bitter. But it had to be done. And he finally understood that.

* * *

Author's notes: Added in Cam (OC) just because Adium needs someone on her side.

I had a bunch of unfinished GF fanfictions in my laptop, and with the current promotion of the show on social media, I thought of posting them here. This is one of them.

Hope you guys like it :)


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